Electronic Music Production Youtube Tutorials

Electronic Music Production Youtube Tutorials. How Much Is It Costing You?

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When Youtube became mainstream, I heard the following statement way too many times than I care to count. “Hey bro you are too expensive, I will learn from Youtube. Youtube For President, Youtube FTW”. I confess, at the start of my career I felt it was a choice, but again I didn’t know back then what I know now. Last few years when I hear that it leaves me completely indifferent. Let me tell you why: 1. Youtube is an entertainment platform first, time waster second… and last an educational tool. 2. Youtube is not a good informational tool either. 3. All the coaches, gurus and experts, never ever use Youtube to put their premium content on it. We rather put random or promotional stuff; freebies to our exclusive paid content. Youtube made is super hard to monetize on views. Very few experts bother to use it, except Vloggers and “influencers”. 4. Educators do not use Youtube. If everyone could learn from Youtube then Universities, Institutes, Academies, and Online Learning platforms would be out of business. Have you ever been to a seminar or a workshop? What about a conference? Did you know that the education sector regardless of your opinion of it, is the only industry that has seen growth since it’s birth? Good or bad economic phases regardless. 5. Anyone who believes that Youtube can add a new skill to them, then they have zero respect for their own time investment.

I can go on and on and built a list with 100+ points why those that think they can learn from Youtube are most likely wrong. Let me explain why:

Recently in one of our info sessions, someone came in, wanted my opinion. He was already making some music and wanted to see how I can assist him further. I usually don’t entertain such things. My time like yours is very precious, but I didn’t know all these details until he showed up, and gave me his story.

Anyways, I listened to some of his stuff, it wasn’t bad, so I asked him did you take any course before? He said NO. Then immediately thought, he must be a natural. Then my next question was, when did you start making music? He replied, about 9 years ago.

My jaw dropped, I could feel my blood pumping in my ears. I was like WTF, 9 years? From what I heard I thought you started to learn a few months back! I saw his face changed color. How are you learning this stuff? I asked. He said Youtube! Then I pulled a chair, my pen, and my notepad, and we sat down together to troubleshoot this injustice. So 9 Years, how many hours do you spend a week learning on Youtube? He said about 6-8 hours a week. Am thinking this guy is shy from 1 credit hour to qualify as a full-time student in a university…

Then I put 9 years X 6 Hours X 40 weeks (i felt 40 weeks is a good amount per year, gave the guy summer/winter/spring breaks too, LOL). It comes down to about 2160 instructional hours on Youtube.

Then I asked him, how much do you get paid at your job? He hesitated to answer and am like you know what, ill make it easy for you. Let’s pretend that you get way underpaid, let’s say you get paid 1000USD a month for a 40 hour week. I and you both know you must make more than that. 1000/40 = 25USD per hour.

So 2160*25USD = ~54,000 USD, if you don’t get where am going with this, so did he… Am like listen you need to tax your self, every time you do anything you need to add a $ amount to it. This is what I learned throughout the years from my mentors and coaches. Tax your self and you will understand the true value of time vs money. So you have spent about 2160 Hours in learning, or you have spent about 54,000 USD of your time in doing so. Yes, you never paid any money, money never left your pocket. But that was the cost of your time doing that, instead of working, releasing music or doing anything else to make some money out of your efforts.

It still didn’t click, or he didn’t care, but he was still quite interested in learning with me. So, I took him down through the “Costas Papa Stress Test”. Open up a new session and do what I tell you, do this, do that, change this, develop that… He was so lost with the basics, so lost. Then he realized, he learned pockets of information, unlinked, unrelated steps and processes that make little to no sense.

5 minutes into my basic stress test, he hit a block, his brain imploded, I saw it in his eyes. He turns and asks me to help him. I wish I could but sometimes you can’t. The damage is so bad that there is no way he can undo 9 years of useless fragmented information. His knowledge was close to zero, his ego will resist my coaching every step of the way. So, I declined and suggested to keep doing his thing and make the most out of it. He can attend a course but not with me.

If you don’t know who I am. The above might come to you as “What an a****** Costas is!”, and you might be right, but guess what, I can sleep at night. I got 3 educational degrees, diplomas, bachelors and masters in education, I also got a bunch of certifications, from Apple, Ableton, Avid and working on new ones every time I get a chance to learn.

I go every year to at least 1 immersive week-long workshop to get the cogs moving. I have spent at least 150,000USD on education, certifications, and workshops, spend another 100,000 USD on software and hardware to practice what I learn and teach. Hours? lol, the clock stopped for me almost a decade ago. To call your self an expert is one thing, to be an actual expert in your field is another. I am fortunate enough that my work speaks for itself. I value my time and my learners. I’ll take an industry course of say 60 hours and break it into 3 hours. That takes skills to do, and I got them for days.

Listen am not selling you to come to me, just find an expert in a field you want to learn, find the best possible match based on your commitment, budget etc… and learn from the best, immersive and to the point, what took them/us years to master they can package it for you in a few sessions. It’s like buying a car if you want an Aston Martin, where would you go? To Aston Martin dealership or to Haguyana (made that one up) dealership? You get my point right, you will go to the source.

Now when you become proficient enough or an expert, you can ask the internet the right questions, and you might find the answers you are looking for because you are now wiser, you have the complete picture, you know your gaps, holes or what areas need further development… You don’t have that perspective when you are outside looking in.

Those that I coached over the years, minimized the pain and maximized the benefits of learning a new creative skill. Its a win for me and those who learn with me. What you could learn elsewhere (youtube and instructional environments) in months, we cover it in a few hours. I update my courses once a quarter, even a little bit to stay fresh. I could sit at home or at the office on my laptop and do my day job and make much more, for me its a choice and a lifestyle. I made it my duty to share my knowledge. Wins and mistakes over the years. I am very happy doing that, I get a high when people tell me they enjoyed learning with me. I get ecstatic when people tell me I changed their lives.